Brief Summary
Paulo Coelho is a worldwide phenomenon. At a time when he is coming up to the fantastic achievement of 100 million copies sold worldwide across all his books, his fans will be delighted with the first ever official biography of Paulo, an in-depth look at his life and work, and what makes him the much-loved author he is today. Paulo's first official biographer, Fernando Morais, provides an exhaustive look at Paulo's fascinating and varied life, taking several years to research his subject, and interviewing everyone who knows Paulo. He weaves together the strands of Paulo's life, revealing the man behind the world-famous writer. Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 1947.
Before he became internationally known and a worldwide bestseller, he had to overcome many obstacles. As a teenager, he was subjected to the brutality of electric shock treatment in the psychiatric hospital where his parents, who took his rebelliousness as a sign of madness, interned him three times. As a member of the esoteric underworld, he was put in prison for alleged subversive activities against the Brazilian dictatorship and subjected to physical torture.
Later, Paulo joined forces with rock star Raul Seixas and together they composed songs that revolutionized Brazilian rock music. Hippie, journalist, rock star, actor, playwright, theatre director and producer of television programs, this whirlwind life came to an end in 1982, during a trip to Europe. In Dachau and later in Amsterdam, Paulo had a mystical meeting with "J", his new mentor, who persuaded him to walk the Road to Santiago de Compostela, a medieval pilgrim's route between France and Spain. In 1986 Paulo walked the Road to Santiago, and it was there that he reconverted to Christianity and found again the faith bequeathed to him by the Jesuit fathers of his school years. He would later describe this experience in his first book, The Pilgrimage. The following year, The Alchemist, established his worldwide reputation. The novel has already achieved the status of a universally admired modern classic. Now, for the first time, discover the true story of the man behind some of the world's most loved books."
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Fernando Morais
Bernard Kishoiyian –
The Village Girl by
Mary Wangari
A Book Review by
Bernard Kishoiyian
This book is a story of grit, resilience and God’s providence in pursuit of unlimited potential of the blue skies. The author hereinafter Wangari, was born in the beautiful undulating landscape of Mununga-ini village in Nyeri county to a family of six siblings raised by a single mother and the MVP of this book one salt of the earth indefatigable Cornelia Wanjiku Matteo. Though her children were born into crushing poverty, Cornelia infused unusual discipline and pride of place in her children and insisted that they pay attention to their education even as they helped till the land, harvest the coffee and deliver milk to the dairy everyday at the crack of dawn. It is in this setting that Wangari developed a work ethic and a deep appreciation for her mother who made sure that there was always enough to eat in the house even if it was never a four course meal with Kreme brulee for dessert drowned with decaf cappuccino.
The author learned to swim in the local nearby river where a whirling beetle known locally as “njururi” was famed to induce a bust of mammalian glands growth if it bit a young girl’s nipples. Despite enduring the pain, Wangari’s chest remained flat until genes and God had mercy. To help keep guard rails in her interaction with boys, her mother told her that in Kikuyu “arume me rwamba” which means boys sting! She took that advice to heart until further notice and if boys winked at her, she thought
they had itchy eyes.
Wangari breezed through Tetu Boys primary school graduating at the top of her class. She says, “I loved school. Wearing the royal blue tunic made of thin cotton material with orange collars every morning of the school term and making a dash barefoot for school was one of the most fulfilling things I have done in life.” From there, she was admitted to Kangubiri Girls Secondary for “O” levels and ultimately to Ngandu Girls for her “A” Levels from where she excelled and joined the faculty of law at University of Nairobi. Her mother’s admonition to study hard was beginning to crystallize. She graduated law school and was admitted to the bar and her life in private practice began in earnest. Through serendipity and certainly God’s divine Providence, Dr James Mwangi invited her to join Equity Bank as General Counsel when the bank was practically a ground floor start up opportunity with barely $30million in assets. She took the leap of faith, rolled her sleeves and went to work. Already married and with three children, juggling the challenge of building a start up and raising a family was a test of intestinal fortitude and learning to adjust, trust people and delegate responsibility. It’s incredible that her personal assistant has remained with her for two decades and counting!
Through organic growth and M&A activity in the East and Central Africa footprint, Equity Bank has grown to become one of the largest and best managed bank franchises with an asset base of $15billion. The growth has been nothing but spectacular and as a public company, the shareholders have over the years been richly rewarded. Wangari immersed herself in the banking business and sought knowledge to complement her legal education and enrolled for advanced degrees in management and leadership. Today she is fluent in the language of ROI, ROE, ROA, NPLs and cost income ratios among many other metrics that measure capital efficiency of an enterprise.
Wangari has been promoted to Group Executive Director which means she sits on the board of all eleven subsidiaries of Equity Group and is the link or conduit with the board of the whole enterprise. The company has remained steadfast to its creed which is “transforming lives, giving dignity and expanding opportunities for wealth creation.” The growth in the last twenty years has been off the charts yet in the grand scheme of enterprise growth, Equity Bank is only at its first inning. The foundation and structures are in place for the outfit to break $100billion asset base. The East African Regional potential as the engine for economic renaissance in Africa is in place and the bank to underwrite that growth and capital formation is ready to go.
The work that Wangari and Equity Group has done in giving back to society through education scholarships has lifted many from poverty. This book opens your eyes to what is possible when an organization has world class leadership and is tethered to values of fairness, meritocracy and inclusion. As Dr James Mwangi reminds his troops, “Things don’t happen. They are made to happen through seamless and speedy execution of strategy.” I say Amen to that.
I strongly recommend this book to everyone especially those interested in social mobility, free enterprise, excellence and a can do attitude and never giving up. Wangari has given us a road map and inspired even those born without a silver spoon, shoes and indoor plumbing to dream big, really big because all things are possible to those who believe. A very easy 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.